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Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Earlier this year the Final Fantasy VII remake was announced at E3. Even more recently, we got to see some gameplay footage at PlayStation Experience 2015. Fans all over the world have been rejoicing, however, there are a few who remain skeptical of Square Enix. To make matters worse, it was recently shared on IGN that the remake will be episodic.

This, of course, has stirred up some some negative reactions from the fans. Even after Square explained why fans just cannot seem to shake feelings of doubt. Some are afraid Square will cut the game in 3 parts and charge full price for each one, others are afraid they'll make Yuffie and Vincent DLC. Personally, even though Square has made themselves a target in the past few years, I don't see them making such outlandish decisions. Although I suppose anything is possible.

The main thing I'd like to point out is that FFVII is a game that was ahead of it's time when it originally came out, it spanned across 3 discs on the PSOne and paved the way for 3D graphics in Final Fantasy games. The game contains a lot of content even by today's standards, I have easily clocked in over 70 hours of gameplay on one playthrough alone. If Square is to be believed, trying to loyally recreate all that content and fit it on one Blu-ray disc is basically impossible.

At the risk of playing devil's advocate I will say pleasing everyone is impossible. Take a look at the combat for example. Some are upset that it's not the traditional turn-based (although FFVII technically has an ATB [Active Time Battle] system, turn-based is more along the lines of FFX) while others would be upset if it was. Square opted-in for what looks more like a Kingdom Hearts style battle system with the ability to switch characters. No matter what, people will always complain but the middle road is usually the best option in these cases.

While I don't necessarily condone it, I can understand people's skepticism. I wouldn't put it beyond Square to chop the game into 3 parts and charge full price for each release, but at the same time I'm holding out hope they'll do the right thing. Especially considering they said they're trying to keep all the original content while adding more (areas you couldn't explore before and whatnot).

At the end of the day, any interpretation of Square's more vague statements is nothing more than pure speculation and none of us will know exactly what's going on with this remake until later. Keep in mind that Square is also working on Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts Unchained X, so it may be awhile before this remake is even close to release, but if Square goes the episodic route and charges fairly, this could work out in everyone's favor. The fans would get to start playing the game they've been begging for earlier than normal and Square will have lined pockets. It's win-win. However, if we see "Final Fantasy VII Remake -Part I- $59.99" at our local retailer in the future I have a feeling things will go south pretty quickly. All we can do is wait and see.

Last year, PlayStation tried something different and introduced us to PlayStation Experience, an affordable, open to the public, E3-esque 2-day convention meant specifically for PlayStation gamers. It was so successful that they decided to make it an annual thing. Fast forward one year and you have PlayStation Experience 2015.

This year's PlayStation Experience (PSX) seemed to lack some of the punch and pizzazz of last year's, possibly due to less new announcements, but there were still some noteworthy moments. I managed to watch the entire Live Cast throughout the weekend, so I saw, not only the keynote, but also all the live panels, gameplay demos and developer interviews.

Here are some of the major highlights from a whole weekend's worth of content.

The Keynote

If you haven't watched the keynote yet you can do so here:

Of course the weekend started out with the main event of PSX; The Keynote. This is usually no different than PlayStation's usual E3 Press Conference except that they try to make it more laid back (including uncensored cursing) and focused mainly on video games (you won't see much playStation Vue talk here).

The Keynote kicked off with some Uncharted 4 footage that showcased Nathan Drake's brother coming back to visit, and then we were hit with our first surprise. Uncharted 4 will have branching dialogue.

At key points of the game you'll be able to choose responses in the style of Bioware or TellTale, allowing for more player immersion. Now, it's unclear whether any of these choices will have a huge impact on the overall story or if they're just there to give conversations more depth, but one thing is for sure; gamers seem to like when video games give them choices.

Of course playStation kept a strong opening by immediately moving on to Final Fantasy VII.

The remake looks gorgeous. It appears they also discarded the turn-based battle system for a more modern-friendly hybrid system, a la Kingdom Hearts. There's not much that can be said about the FFVII remake that hasn't already been said. There's some controversy surrounding it but I will cover that in a different article. For now, I'll just let the trailer do the talking.

PlayStation quickly shifted gears from RPGs to fighting games when they not only introduced a new character for Street Fighter V (F.A.N.G.), but also announced all the post-game DLC characters.

It was also announced that all 6 characters will be unlockable in-game as well, in the traditional style, but you can also unlock them early by paying for them.

After that Double Fine took the stage to announced that not only is their Day of the Tentacle remaster they announced last year coming in March but they're also remaking Full Throttle. That's not all though, Tim Schafer also announced Psychonauts 2 (which you can help crowdfund by going here: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/psychonauts-2)and a PlayStation VR game titled Psychonauts: In the Rhombus of Ruin.

Of course, who could forget Ratchet & Clank? This year we got a look at a reimagining of how the dynamic duo met and even got to see some gameplay. This game is a reboot of the original, it also serves as a companion to the upcoming movie, which is also a retelling of the original game. In fact, during the later LiveCast, one of the developers even said some things from the game and the movie would intertwine. I could not be more excited for this.

Halfway through the show Gio Corsi came out to show more love for the Vita and announce another grand plethora of indie games coming to PS4 and Vita.

Sony may have deemed the Vita a "legacy system" but it appears there's some people at PlayStation who aren't willing to give up hope just yet, and that makes me happy to see.

Some other noteworthy announcements include:

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Yakuza 5 coming to PS3 and Yakuza 0 Coming to PS4

Sparrow Racing in Destiny

New Hack n Slash Roguelike Brutal

Rez Infinite (a Sega Dreamcast remake) coming to PS4 and PS VR

Post-Keynote LiveCast

One of the things that usually sets PlayStation apart from others during E3 is their 3-day long LiveCast after all the press conferences. During this time they show off live gameplay footage, interview developers and sometimes make a few more minor announcements. This year, PlayStation decided to take that tradition and include it into PSX.

It was during this LiveCast that I actually learned a few more interesting tidbits such as the PS2 classic on PS4 output at upscaled 1080p, support Share features and have trophies. I also learned there's a new Hot Shots Golf coming to PS4. Everything else during the LiveCast is basically as I previously explained it with one major exception...

Live Panels

During day one of the PSX LiveCast, in between all the gameplay demos and developer interviews, PlayStation had a series of Panels where certain people would sit on stage and discuss the topic at hand. These panels were usually headed by PlayStation staff and included big names from such companies as IGN, Naughty Dog, Capcom and more!

Here's a complete list of all the panels, with each one linking to a YouTube video where you can watch it.

If you watch any of those panels I highly recommend the Uncharted 4 and PS I Love You XOXO panels. Not only are both panels ran by the hilarious Greg Miller from Kinda Funny BUT The U4 panels also features Nolan North and Troy Baker cracking jokes. Both panels were very funny and entertaining. The PS I Love You XOXO panel was almost non-stop laughs and featured, what I consider, to be one of the most sentimental moments in PlayStation history when not only did 3 lucky PlayStation fans walk away with free PS Vitas and games, but Gio Corsi told the story of how he formatted his Vita and gave it to a lucky fan on the show floor. Not many people who work in the industry would be that generous.

Overall I'd say PSX was a smashing success this year, but there could have been more. Shawn Layden even threw us all a red herring by wearing a Crash Bandicoot shirt, that, of course caused disappointment when there was no Crash Bandicoot announcement. It wasn't a bad PSX but it did feel a little lackluster compared to last year.

Here's some highlights from last year's PSX to draw comparisons:

Still though, there were a few surprise announcements and fresh gameplay footage that made myself, and I'm sure many others, happy (such as the Ni No Kuni II announcement out of nowhere). I can't wait to see what PlayStation has in store for E3 and PSX next year.

Monday, July 27, 2015

It's been one year since The Joker tried to poison Gotham with his tainted Titan blood. He's now dead and cremated. Gotham is no longer segregated for the sake of a city prison, and for once everything in life sees to be fine. That is, until Scarecrow threatens the city with his fear toxin, causing a mass evacuation and leaving none but the city's scum and villainy behind. Well... them and Batman of course. Is the caped crusader's final Arkham game a well thought out send off? Or is it a disappointing finale? Let's find out...

On the surface, Arkham Knight is a story of Batman working to stop Scarecrow from poisoning Gotham with fear toxin, but really it's much more intricate than that. On the surface it is a straightforward Batman story where he breaks bones first and asks questions later, but deep down it's actually a psychological adventure about Batman's most inner struggle with his deepest fear: failure.

Early on in the game we learn that Batman has a few unlucky souls locked up for experimentation and analysis. Why? Well because it turns out they didn't find all of the Joker blood and now a few unfortunate souls have succumbed to a bad case of Jokeritis, which, to put it bluntly; turns whoever's infected into Joker. QUite literally actually. Gordon questions the empty cell and Batman ominously replies "He'll be here soon" while looking into the cage and staring at his reflection, as if that wasn't a HUGE giveaway.

My suspicions were confirmed when you first confront Scarecrow and he injects you with fear toxin and the Joker shows up not moments later. But it's not actually him. See, Batman has a high tolerance for Scarecrow's toxin but he's not completely immune, but his fears manifest themselves in the form of his innermost demon: Joker. In many ways Batman and Joker are one in the same. The two go hand-in-hand. It's hard to have one without the other. Rocksteady found a clever and symbolic way to bring him into this game and still keep him dead.

But, let's focus on the Joker for a moment, shall we? I understand what Rocksteady was trying to do but it seems in every major Arkham game Joker somehow ends up being the main villain focus. In Origins, Black mask turned out to be Joker in disguise, in Asylum he was the main villain, in City Hugo Strange was the main villain but Joker presents the final boss fight and climatic ending, plus he's a major threat in most of the game, and of course now in Knight, Scarecrow gets thrown on the back-burner a lot in favor of Joker hallucinations. In many ways Joker is still the main villain because he's taunting Batman from within his own mind and trying to get him to become... well, him. As if Batman didn't have enough to deal with tonight already. I will say, the Joker not being real means he can break the laws of physics and it makes for some great cartoon like moments where he'll be behind you one moment and pop up randomly on a beam in front of you lounging about like Kefka from Final Fantasy VI just to toss a random one-liner in there and throw you of focus. It's funny in a morbid Looney Tunes kind of way.

That being said, even though Joker is a heavy focus I feel like the main threat of the game isn't Scarecrow, but his new-found sidekick the Arkham Knight. Halfway through the game they drop hints at his true identity and it's more for the comic fans. If you've only played the games or watched the movies the name "Jason Todd" is of no relevance to you but he was the next Robin after Dick Grayson became Nightwing, then he was kidnapped and tortured by... guess who? Yep, Joker. He was presumed dead and replaced with Tim Drake. Turns out he wasn't dead and he blames Batman for what happened to him. Now he's out for vengeance. I was hoping it would be someone else but at least hardcore Batman fans will get a taste of nostalgia. Also, the Red Hood DLC kind of gives it away too if you know that Red Hood = Jason Todd.

As far as gameplay, Arkham Knight excels at what the other games did. The gadgets are essentially the same but you can do more with them. The combat is more fluent now, combos are easier to pull off and guns don't provide as much of a threat as they used to. It's not like it matters though as you'll spend 70% of the game in the Batmobile anyways. There's a good chance when you first get the Batmobile you'll use it a lot, but the game assumes you prefer gliding as it shoves Batmobile missions down your throat every fifteen minutes. This is especially annoying because 2 of the 3 Arkham Knight boss fights take place in the Batmobile and both are harder than shit even on easy. It doesn't help that the damn thing controls like a walrus on a riding mower, leaving very minimal room for error.

The Riddler makes a triumphant return in what can only be explained as SAW meets NASCAR. He's also kidnapped Catwoman and forces her and Batman to work together to solve traps to get keys to unlock a bomb collar. Sound familiar?

A lot of the bad guys aren't really up to much otherwise, besides the usual mischief. Some of them, like Two-Face, have gone back to petty shit like robbing banks. The sidequests in the previous games are better. For one thing there's way too much militia shit, and the Riddler collectibles are just way too damn hard this time.

Overall, it's a decent end to a trilogy (yes I said TRILOGY), but it was lacking in a lot of the polish and wow factor that made Arkham City such an amazing game. Most of it is genuinely good but a lot of it feels rushed and a little jumpy. Batman himself this time sounds like he swallowed a tin can and shows little to no emotion about literally anything. He's also a dick this time. Half of the game could have been so much easier if he would just lay down his Bat Pride and let his friends help for once!

Friday, June 5, 2015

PS4 versions of PS3 games are becoming a regular occurrence in the current gaming generation and Uncharted is no exception. Arne Meyer of Naughty Dog recently ventured to the PlayStation Blog to announce Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection coming to PS4 on October 9th, 2015.

Fans of the original games looking to relive the adventure, newcomers to the franchise and previous Xbox 360 owners who jumped ship this generation can now experience the definitive franchise in all it's remastered glory!

The collection will include the PS3 games Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. All three games will run at 60 frames per second in glorious 1080p. The games will also feature remastered textures, better lighting and character models as well as a photo mode (which has been very popular ever since inFAMOUS: Second Son) and brand new trophies that weren't in the PS3 versions. The collection will also grant players exclusive access to the Uncharted 4 multiplayer beta and pre-orders will grant players access to the Nathan Drake Pack which includes skins and weapons for single player, as there are currently no plans to include multiplayer in the collection.

The collection is being handled by Bluepoint Games who developed Blast Factor and have handled ports like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS Vita)and Titanfall (Xbox 360) and HD Collections such as Metal Gear Solid and God of War, so their track record is pretty impressive. You can see their entire repertoire here: http://bluepointgames.com/

Once again, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection releases October 9th of this year. If you've never played the games before, or you're looking to replay them before Uncharted 4 comes out, now is the time!